HOT Cares Helps Disabled Woman with Vital Leg Brace

Most of us take the use of our legs for granted.

Not Carmen, a 45-year-old wife, mother and cancer survivor who was born with a dislocated hip and club feet. Her disability is on the left side of her leg and has caused her spine to grow abnormally, resulting in her spending most of her life with pain and discomfort.

Just to give you an idea of the full picture, Carmen has had 19 operations on her leg, which is what she told The Big Joburg Drive team of Tony, Tara and Dylan when they called her up on HOT 102.7FM.

It’s been a difficult life for Carmen, who admitted on air that she battled to make friends early on, but eventually managed to find her way. That was helped in no small way by an important leg brace – her saving grace – which was crucial in Carmen being able to walk.
Not only that, but the leg brace provided welcome relief and most importantly, allowed her to walk and move independently.

Unfortunately, that leg brace broke recently, leaving Carmen without the means to get around and live her life. She’s been forced to use crutches again and is struggling to move and keep up with her daily tasks, whilst she’s also experiencing discomfort, along with the added pressure on her right-side leg to compensate for the left side’s weakness.

Compounding the situation is the fact that Carmen is not in a financial situation to pay the R7000 for the repair of her leg brace.

She previously worked for SAA but was retrenched in 2020 and has been looking for a job since. This has obviously placed immense pressure on Carmen and her family, who now rely on just one income. So, it’s a tight budget and one that is already stretched to the limit, meaning that coming up with R7000 to pay for the brace repairs is just not possible.

Despite all of this, Carmen remains upbeat and positive, according to Reverend Brian, who first contacted Hot Cares about her and who knows her from the church where Carmen is an active member, volunteering and putting the needs of others before hers.

But, she needs and wants her independence back, which is what the leg brace can do for her, and Hot Cares sees this.

That’s why we tasked The Big Joburg Drive team with the job of breaking the good news to Carmen, telling her on air that Hot Cares will be covering the R7000 cost to have her leg brace repaired.

We hope this small intervention will have a material impact on Carmen’s life and well-being.

If you are a prospective partner of Hot Cares, or if you are in a position to donate towards making a meaningful difference, or have a story to alert us to, or a programme you’d like to partner with Hot Cares on, please get in touch with us by emailing [email protected].